Systems and methods for replication of data utilizing delta volumes

ABSTRACT

A method of data replication from a first data storage device to a second data storage device. The method may include generating, at the first data storage device, at spaced time intervals, a plurality of snapshots for a logical data volume of the first data storage device, the logical data volume being an abstraction of data blocks from one or more physical storage devices, each snapshot identifying changes of data for at least a portion of the logical data volume since a most previous snapshot. Also at the first data storage device, the method includes generating a delta volume, the delta volume indicating changes in the data of at least a portion of the logical data volume between two non-consecutive snapshots. The method further involves replicating the delta volume to the second data storage device, and replicating the changes to the data indicated therein at the second data storage device.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/550,152, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,087,009 titled “Systems and Methods forReplication of Data Utilizing Delta Volumes,” filed Jul. 16, 2012, thedisclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods forreplication of, for example, backup or historical data. Particularly,the present disclosure relates to replication processes for datautilizing delta volumes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Data storage on disk has been rapidly outgrowing typical means to backup data on those disks to removable storage, such as tape. At the sametime, the need to provide cost effective backup copies has grown out of,for example, practical needs and trade and federal rules/legislation.

A single and simple remote replication target site may suffice forstoring historical data. However, the cost to maintain every snapshottaken at the source site at the remote site could be prohibitive. Itemscontributing to the costs, include but are not limited to: theopportunity cost of the bandwidth used; the real dollar cost of thebandwidth; the real dollar cost of the remote site, including forexample, the size of the site, the power required to operate the site,the employee cost for the site, etc.; the administrative cost forreplication; and the storage cost, including the cost of the disk drivesor other block store devices.

Conventional methods of replicating data to a backup storage can resultin extra, unnecessary data being transferred between the source site andbackup site. For example, in one example method of replicating data,consider a data storage system 100 having local storage 102 and backupor remote storage 104, as illustrated in FIG. 1. At local storage 102,which maintains active data input/output (I/O), the system is configuredfor local recovery snapshots at 8 hour intervals, i.e., snapshots 106,108, 110, and 112. Each snapshot identifies the changes or delta betweenit and the prior snapshot. For example, snapshot 108 identifies only thechanges since snapshot 106 was taken, or from 12 am to 8 am. Incontrast, the backup storage 104 may, for example, be configured foronly nightly backup, i.e., backup once every 24 hours, as a lengthierbackup interval period for the backup data may be sufficient and moreefficient in overall storage use at the backup site because the data isless active or inactive. Regardless of the 24 hour backup period at thebackup storage 104, however, because the snapshots at the local storageidentify only the deltas between each snapshot, in the course of a day,each snapshot will nonetheless be at least temporarily replicated to thebackup storage, as illustrated in FIG. 1, in order for the backupstorage system to identify the entire day's changes and appropriatelycreate the 24-hour daily backup. To save space, any intermediate backups114, 116 can be deleted once the 24 hour backup 118 is committed.Nonetheless, assuming an example 10 terabyte (TB) dataset and a worstcase scenario where 100% of the dataset changes every 8 hours at thelocal storage, such conventional method would require the entire 10 TBto be transferred to the backup storage 104 every 8 hours, resulting ina total daily transfer of 30 TB.

In the above example, only 24 hour snapshots 118 and 120 are ofinterest, and if intermediate snapshots 112, 114 could be eliminated,even in the worst case scenario, the daily transfer of data from thelocal storage 102 to the backup storage 104 would be reduced from 30 TBto 10 TB. The problem may increase even more where, for example only,the dataset is much larger than 30 TB, where the local storage takessnapshots at intervals shorter than 8 hours, and/or where the backupstorage takes backups at larger intervals than 1 day. However, it isrecognized that systems where the dataset is much smaller than 30 TB,where the local storage takes snapshots at intervals longer than 8hours, and/or where the backup storage takes backups at smallerintervals than 1 day would likely have the same issues.

Thus, there is a need in the art for providing more cost effectiveand/or more efficient replication processes for, for example, backup orhistorical data.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure, in one embodiment, relates to a method of datareplication from a first data storage device to a second data storagedevice. The method may include generating, at the first data storagedevice, at spaced time intervals, a plurality of snapshots for a logicaldata volume of the first data storage device, the logical data volumebeing an abstraction of data blocks from one or more physical storagedevices, and each snapshot identifying changes of data for at least aportion of the logical data volume since a most previous snapshot. Insome embodiments, the spaced time intervals are predetermined timeintervals. Also at the first data storage device, the method includesgenerating a delta volume, the delta volume indicating changes in thedata of at least a portion of the logical data volume between twonon-consecutive snapshots. The method further involves replicating thedelta volume to the second data storage device, and replicating thechanges to the data indicated therein at the second data storage device.The delta volume at the first storage device may be discarded afterbeing replicated to the second data storage device. The method mayfurther include generating a plurality of delta volumes at spaced timeintervals.

In even further embodiments, the method may involve generating acombined delta volume, the combined delta volume indicating changes indata of at least a portion of the logical data volume between twonon-consecutive delta volumes. A plurality of such combined deltavolumes may also be generated at spaced time intervals. Similarly, acombined delta volume may be replicated to a third data storage device,and the changes to the data indicated therein may be thus replicated atthe third data storage device.

The present disclosure, in another embodiment, also relates to a methodof data replication from a first data storage device to a second datastorage device. The method may include receiving a delta volume at thesecond data storage device, the delta volume indicating the changes indata of at least a portion of a logical data volume of the first datastorage device, and replicating the changes to the data indicatedtherein at the second data storage device. In this regard, the firstdata storage device may generate a plurality of snapshots for thelogical data volume, the logical data volume being an abstraction ofdata blocks from one or more physical storage devices, with eachsnapshot identifying changes of data for at least a portion of thelogical data volume since a most previous snapshot. The delta volume maythus indicate changes in data of at least a portion of the logical datavolume between two non-consecutive snapshots.

The present disclosure, in yet another embodiment, relates to a deltavolume for a data storage system, the delta volume comprising anindication of changes in data between two non-consecutive snapshots ofthe data storage system, with each snapshot identifying changes of datafor at least a portion of the data storage system since a most previoussnapshot. Each snapshot may identify changes of data for a logicalvolume of the data storage system since a most previous snapshot.

While multiple embodiments are disclosed, still other embodiments of thepresent disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art fromthe following detailed description, which shows and describesillustrative embodiments of the invention. As will be realized, thevarious embodiments of the present disclosure are capable ofmodifications in various obvious aspects, all without departing from thespirit and scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the drawingsand detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in natureand not restrictive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

While the specification concludes with claims particularly pointing outand distinctly claiming the subject matter that is regarded as formingthe various embodiments of the present disclosure, it is believed thatthe invention will be better understood from the following descriptiontaken in conjunction with the accompanying Figures, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic of a conventional replication process from localto backup storage.

FIG. 2 is a schematic of a disk drive system suitable with the variousembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a schematic of snapshot scheme according to one embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a schematic of a delta volume according to one embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a schematic of an example use of replication utilizing deltavolumes according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure relates to novel and advantageous systems andmethods for replication of, for example, backup or historical data.Particularly, the present disclosure relates to novel and advantageoussystems and methods for replication of data utilizing delta volumes.

The systems and methods of the present disclosure may be particularlyuseful in the context of a disk drive system, or virtual disk drivesystem, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,613,945, titled“Virtual Disk Drive System and Method,” issued Nov. 3, 2009, theentirety of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. Such diskdrive systems allow the efficient storage of data by dynamicallyallocating the data across a page pool of storage, or a matrix of diskstorage blocks, and a plurality of disk drives based on RAID-to-diskmapping. They may protect data from, for example, system failures orvirus attacks by automatically generating and storing snapshots orpoint-in-time copies of the system or matrix of disk storage blocks at,for example, predetermined time intervals, user configured dynamic timestamps, such as, every few minutes or hours, etc., or at times directedby the server. These time-stamped snapshots permit the recovery of datafrom a previous point in time prior to the system failure, therebyrestoring the system as it existed at that time. These snapshots orpoint-in-time data may also be used by the system or system users forother purposes, such as but not limited to, testing, while the mainstorage can remain operational. Generally, using snapshot capabilities,a user may view the state of a storage system as it existed in a priorpoint in time.

FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of a disk drive or data storage system200 in a computer environment 202, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat.No. 7,613,945, and suitable with the various embodiments of the presentdisclosure. As shown in FIG. 2, the disk drive system 200 may include adata storage subsystem 204, which may include a RAID subsystem, as willbe appreciated by those skilled in the art, and a disk manager 206having at least one disk storage system controller. The data storagesubsystem 204 and disk manager 206 can dynamically allocate data acrossdisk space of a plurality of disk drives 208 based on, for example,RAID-to-disk mapping or other storage mapping technique.

As generally described above, the data storage system 204 mayautomatically generate a snapshot(s) or Point-in-Time Copy(ies) (PITC)of the system, or a matrix of disk storage blocks or volume(s) thereof.A snapshot may include a record of write operations to, for example, avolume so that a “view” may subsequently be created to see the contentsof the volume as they existed in the past, such as for data recovery. ALogical Block Address (LBA) remapping layer may be added to a data pathwithin the virtualization layer, and may therefore provide another layerof virtual LBA mapping within the I/O path. The snapshot or PITC neednot copy all volume information, and instead, in some embodiments, maymerely modify a table that the remapping layer uses. Snapshotcapabilities of the data storage system 204 may include, but are notlimited to, creating snapshots, managing snapshots, coalescingsnapshots, and controlling I/O operations of the snapshots.

FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of a snapshot scheme, as described inU.S. Pat. No. 7,613,945. As illustrated in FIG. 3, a top-level snapshotor PITC for a volume, or a view volume as will be described below, maybe an active snapshot or PITC (AP) 302. The AP 302 may satisfy all readand write requests to the volume. In many embodiments, the AP is theonly snapshot or PITC for the volume that may accept write requests. TheAP 302 may contain a summary of data page pointers for the entirevolume.

The next snapshot level down from the AP 302 may be the most recentlyactive snapshot or PITC that is no longer active. In the embodimentshown, the snapshot 304 was taken or committed at time T4. The next mostrecent snapshot or PITC 306 was taken or committed at time T3. Thepattern may continue for snapshots or PITCs taken at times T2, T1, andT0. The number of snapshots or PITCs shown in FIG. 3 are forillustration purposes only. Of course, there could be fewer or many moresnapshots than that shown.

FIG. 3 also illustrates that a view volume 308 may subsequently becreated to see or view the contents of a volume as they were at somepoint in the past. In general, view volumes provide access to previouspoints-in-time and can support normal volume I/O operations. A viewvolume PITC may track the difference between the original PITC fromwhich the view volume was generated, and the view volume allows the userto access the information contained within the original PITC withoutmodifying the underlying data of the original PITC. In this sense, aview volume branches from the PITC from which it was generated and maysupport such actions as, but not limited to, recovery, test, backupoperations, etc. In the example shown, the view volume 308 may becreated from snapshot or PITC 310, which was taken at T2. Thus, the viewvolume 308 provides a view of the volume as it was at time T2. The viewvolume may initially be an active snapshot or PITC and may satisfy allread and write requests to the view volume. However, a view volume 308may also take advantage of snapshot capabilities and have snapshots orPITCs of its own similarly generated at predetermined time intervals,user configured dynamic time stamps, such as, every few minutes orhours, etc., or at times directed by the server. In this regard, theview volume may include an active PITC 310 and one or more snapshots orPITCs, e.g., 312, that were generated at previous points in time. Inmany embodiments, the active PITC for the view volume is the onlysnapshot or PITC for the view volume that may accept write requests.

During a basic life cycle of a snapshot or PITC, the snapshot or PITCmay go through a number of following states before it is committed asread-only:

1. Create page table—Upon creation of the PITC, a page table may becreated.

2. Commit space for PITC to disk—This generates the storage on the diskfor the PITC. By writing the table at this point, it may ensure that therequired space to store the table information is allocated before thePITC is taken. At the same time, the PITC object may also committed tothe disk.

3. Accept I/O—As the AP, it may now handle read and write requests forthe volume. In many embodiments, this is the only state that acceptswrite requests to the table.

4. Commit PITC table to disk as read-only—The PITC is no longer the AP,and no longer accepts additional pages. A new AP has taken over. In someembodiments, the table will no longer change unless it is removed duringa coalesce operation with one or more other snapshots or PITCs. In thissense, it is read-only.

5. Release table memory—Frees any extra memory that the table requiredin order to release available resources.

As described above, conventional methods of replicating data to backupstorage can result in extra, unnecessary data being transferred betweenthe source site and backup site. For example, in the example methodillustrated in FIG. 1, each and every snapshot will nonetheless be, atleast temporarily, replicated to the backup site.

The present disclosure improves snapshot and replication processes forhistorical data in a data storage system, such as but not limited to thetype of data storage system described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,613,945. Thedisclosed improvements can provide more cost effective and/or moreefficient replication processes for, by way of example, backup orhistorical data.

In embodiments of the present disclosure, each snapshot or PITC may berepresented or understood as identifying the changes or delta between itand the prior snapshot or PITC, or some previous consecutive point intime. Generally, as will be described in more detail below, in additionto utilizing consecutive snapshots, as discussed with respect to FIG. 1,a delta volume 402, illustrated in FIG. 4, may be created at the localstorage 102 that identifies the changes or delta between twonon-consecutive snapshots or PITCs, such as between snapshots 106 and112. In one embodiment, a delta volume may be created by coalescing asnapshot at the desired end point in time (e.g., snapshot 112) with anyintermediate snapshots (e.g., snapshots 108, 110) between an initialpoint in time (e.g., snapshot 106) and the endpoint snapshot to form orcreate a single volume identifying the changes between data at theinitial point in time and the desired end point in time. In this regard,in one embodiment, a delta volume may contain data relating to just thechanges to the data of a volume between two arbitrary or non-consecutivesnapshots or PITCs. A delta volume may be an abstraction of the data,identifying the changes in data over time, but may not store the actualdata. Accordingly, between snapshots/PITCs and delta volumes, a manneris provided to relatively easily provide a view of the change or deltain data between any two desirable points in time. The delta volume alsoprovides a means for local-to-backup replication without the potentialof unnecessarily copying unchanged or irrelevant data deltas in theprocess. In this regard, the delta volume 402 may be relatively simplycopied or sent to the backup storage 104 to establish a backup atdesired backup intervals without requiring the replication ofintermediate snapshots, e.g., 112, 114. If desired, the delta volumecould then be discarded by the source or initiating site to release thestorage space temporarily utilized by the delta volume.

In some embodiments, a delta volume could return relatively highlycompressible data, such as zeros for example, for unchanged data blocks,thereby permitting the delta volume to be backed up very efficientlyutilizing traditional backup software tools. A restoration software toolcould be used to restore an original volume from such traditionallybacked up delta volumes by recombining them the delta volumes, and coulddo so while preserving snapshot hierarchies.

As an example, the various embodiments of the present disclosure permitthe use of relatively frequent non-replicating snapshots or PITCs,during, for example, active times when frequent local backup may bedesired, and the use of delta volumes at relatively sparse intervals forlarger or remote backups of historical data. And, while in a broadsense, a delta volume may be considered as a volume that identifies thechanges or delta between any two non-consecutive points in time, or moreparticularly any two non-consecutive snapshots or PITCs, in furtherembodiments, a delta volume may also be used, and created, as a volumethat identifies the changes or delta between any two non-consecutivedelta volumes or other logical data structure.

As an example of replication utilizing delta volumes and the abovefeatures, which is not meant to be limiting and is provided mainly forillustration purposes, in one instance illustrated in FIG. 5, snapshotsor PITCs may be taken or committed daily at hourly, bi-hourly, etc. timeintervals at a local site 502. In this sense, the local site may keeprecord, for example, of hourly changes in the data storage system, orselected portions thereof. Being the most recently active data, it maybe desirable to keep such frequent backups if, for example, disasterstrikes or the data needs to be accessed for testing or other recovery.As time passes, it can become inefficient to store a lot of historicaldata with active data. Thus, the local site 502 may be configured tokeep hourly snapshots or PITCs for only some relatively short period oftime, such as but not limited to, 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, 4 days, or moredepending, for example, on the desired setup, use, and industry rulesand regulations.

Accordingly, a delta volume may be created at the local site 502 and maybe configured to identify changes in the data on a daily basis, forexample, rather than an hourly basis. More specifically, a day's worthof snapshots at the local site may be copied or coalesced into a deltavolume, which would then identify the resulting changes in the datasince a point in time 24 hours prior to the creation of the deltavolume. The daily delta volumes may be efficiently replicated to anotherlocal or a remote site 504, which may keep a replicated copy of the dataat the local site 502, but may update the replicated data only on adaily basis based on the daily delta volumes received from the localsite. The local site 502 may discard the daily delta volumes oncereplicated to the remote site 504. In this sense, the remote site 504may keep record, for example, of daily changes in the data storagesystem, or selected portions thereof. Likely being less importanthistorical data, it may thus be sufficient to keep less frequent backupsat the remote site 504. Nonetheless, as time passes, it may still beinefficient to store large amounts of long-term historical data. Thus,the remote site 504 may be configured to keep daily delta volumes foronly a period of time, such as but not limited to, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3weeks, or more depending, for example, on the desired setup, use, andindustry rules and regulations.

In still further embodiments, also illustrated in FIG. 5, delta volumesmay further be created at the remote site 504 and may be configured toidentify changes in the data on a weekly basis, for example, rather thanan hourly or daily basis. More specifically, a week's worth of dailydelta volumes at the remote site 504 may be copied or coalesced into alonger term delta volume, which would then identify the resultingchanges in the data since a point in time 1 week prior to the creationof the delta volume. The weekly delta volumes may be efficientlyreplicated to yet another site 506, which may keep a replicated copy ofthe data at the local 502 and remote 504 sites, but may update thereplicated data only on a weekly basis based on the weekly delta volumesreceived from the remote site 504. The remote site 504 may discard theweekly delta volumes once replicated to site 506. In this sense, site506 may keep record, for example, of weekly changes in the data storagesystem, or selected portions thereof. Likely being historical data ofeven lower importance, it may thus be sufficient to keep even lesserfrequent backups at site 506. Nonetheless, as time passes, it may stillbecome inefficient to store large amounts of such historical data. Thus,site 506 may be configured to keep weekly delta volumes for only aperiod of time, such as but not limited to, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months,or more depending, for example, on the desired setup, use, and industryrules and regulations.

Accordingly, delta volumes may further be created at site 506 and may beconfigured to identify changes in the data on a monthly basis, forexample, rather than an hourly, daily, or weekly basis. Morespecifically, a month's worth of weekly delta volumes at site 506 may becopied or coalesced into a longer term delta volume, which would thenidentify the resulting changes in the data since a point in time 1 monthprior to the creation of the delta volume. The monthly delta volumes maybe replicated to yet another site 508, which may keep a replicated copyof the data at the local 502 and remote 504, 506 sites, but may updatethe replicated data only on a monthly basis based on the monthly deltavolumes received from site 506. Site 506 may discard the monthly deltavolumes once replicated to site 508. In this sense, site 508 may keeprecord, for example, of monthly changes in the data storage system, orselected portions thereof. Because such older historical data is likelyto be of low importance, it may be sufficient to keep less frequentbackups at site 508. Nonetheless, as time passes, it may still becomeinefficient to store large amounts of such historical data. Thus, site508 may be configured to keep monthly delta volumes for only a period oftime, such as but not limited to, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, or moredepending, for example, on the desired setup, use, and industry rulesand regulations.

The pattern could repeat with larger and larger delta volumes and morelocal or remote storage sites. Similarly, it need not be the case thatthe delta volume replication must be chained from site to site growingfrom smallest delta volume interval to largest delta volume interval inthe manner described. For example only, site 508 need not receivemonthly delta volumes from only site 506, but could additionally oralternately receive monthly delta volumes from any of sites 502 and 504.Additionally, it is recognized that the above examples are but a fewways in which delta volumes may be utilized, and the various embodimentsof the present disclosure are not limited to the examples providedabove. It is recognized that delta volumes as described herein, andreplication utilizing delta volumes, can have many broad andadvantageous uses in a data storage system, and delta volumes need notbe used only for replication purposes.

The various embodiments of the present disclosure relating toreplication of data utilizing delta volumes provide significantadvantages over conventional systems and methods for data replication.For example, the various embodiments of the present disclosure mayreduce cost in a variety of ways, including but not limited to: reducingI/O activity between the local storage and the backup or remote storage;reducing total bandwidth use; reducing backup time; and reducing thetotal amount of storage required at the backup site, for example, byeliminating the need to store temporary intermediate snapshots or PITCs.

In the foregoing description various embodiments of the presentdisclosure have been presented for the purpose of illustration anddescription. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit theinvention to the precise form disclosed. Obvious modifications orvariations are possible in light of the above teachings. The variousembodiments were chosen and described to provide the best illustrationof the principals of the disclosure and their practical application, andto enable one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the variousembodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particularuse contemplated. All such modifications and variations are within thescope of the present disclosure as determined by the appended claimswhen interpreted in accordance with the breadth they are fairly,legally, and equitably entitled.

We claim:
 1. A method of consolidating data changes in a data storagedevice in preparation for data replication, the method comprising:generating, at spaced time intervals, a plurality of snapshots for alogical data volume of the data storage device, the logical data volumebeing an abstraction of data blocks from one or more physical storagedevices, each snapshot identifying changes of data for at least aportion of the logical data volume since a most previous snapshot;generating a plurality of delta volumes, each delta volume indicatingchanges in the data of at least a portion of the logical data volumebetween two non-consecutive snapshots; transmitting one of the pluralityof delta volumes to a second data storage device; and generating acombined delta volume, the combined delta volume indicating changes indata of at least a portion of the logical data volume between twonon-consecutive delta volumes.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thespaced time intervals are predetermined time intervals.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the second data storage device is remotely located fromthe data storage device.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the datastorage device and second data storage device are part of the same datastorage subsystem.
 5. The data storage system of claim 1, wherein thecombined delta volume is generated at a third data storage device.
 6. Amethod of consolidating data changes in a data storage device inpreparation for data replication, the method comprising: generating, atspaced time intervals, a plurality of snapshots for a logical datavolume of the data storage device, the logical data volume being anabstraction of data blocks from one or more physical storage devices,each snapshot identifying changes of data for at least a portion of thelogical data volume since a most previous snapshot; generating aplurality of delta volumes at spaced time intervals, each delta volumeindicating changes in the data of at least a portion of the logical datavolume between two non-consecutive snapshots; and generating a combineddelta volume, the combined delta volume indicating changes in data of atleast a portion of the logical data volume between two non-consecutivedelta volumes.
 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising generating aplurality of combined delta volumes at spaced time intervals.
 8. Themethod of claim 6, further comprising transmitting the combined deltavolume to a second data storage device.
 9. The method of claim 6,further comprising transmitting one of the plurality of delta volumes toa second data storage device.
 10. A method of data replication from afirst data storage device to a second data storage device, the methodcomprising: receiving a plurality of delta volumes at the second datastorage device, each delta volume indicating changes in data of at leasta portion of a logical data volume of the first data storage device;wherein the first data storage device generates a plurality of snapshotsfor the logical data volume, the logical data volume being anabstraction of data blocks from one or more physical storage devices,each snapshot identifying changes of data for at least a portion of thelogical data volume since a most previous snapshot; wherein each deltavolume indicates changes in data of at least a portion of the logicaldata volume between two non-consecutive snapshots; and generating acombined delta volume, the combined delta volume indicating changes indata of at least a portion of the logical data volume between twonon-consecutive delta volumes.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein thesnapshots are generated at predetermined time intervals.
 12. The methodof claim 10, wherein each delta volume is generated at the first datastorage device and is discarded at the first data storage device afterbeing sent to the second data storage device.
 13. The method of claim10, further comprising generating a plurality of combined delta volumesat spaced time intervals.
 14. The method of claim 10, further comprisingreplicating the combined delta volume to a third data storage device.15. The method of claim 10, wherein the second data storage device isremotely located from the first data storage device.
 16. The method ofclaim 10, wherein the first and second data storage devices are part ofthe same data storage subsystem.
 17. The method of claim 10, wherein thecombined delta volume is generated at a third data storage device.
 18. Adata storage system comprising: a data storage device generating, atspaced time intervals, a plurality of snapshots for a logical datavolume of the first data storage device, the logical data volume beingan abstraction of data blocks from one or more physical storage devices,each snapshot identifying changes of data for at least a portion of thelogical data volume since a most previous snapshot; and a plurality ofdelta volumes, each delta volume comprising an indication of changes indata between two non-consecutive snapshots of the data storage system,each snapshot identifying changes of data for at least a portion of thedata storage system since a most previous snapshot; a second datastorage device, wherein the plurality of delta volumes are transmittedto the second data storage device; and a combined delta volumeindicating changes in data of at least a portion of the logical datavolume between two non-consecutive delta volumes.